Spirit Whisperer
by Artemisdesari
Summary: Sarah receives a gift, one that has drastic concequences for her future. When she receives a warning as a result of the gift, will she help old friends and enemies or will she try to find a way to avoid her fate? Rated to be safe, on HIATUS
1. Prologue

_**Disclaimer:** I don't own it, I will never own it and you can look at my bank account to verify that. All I have is a DVD and a Jareth doll which is currently sat on my mantle piece and glaring at me. I don't own the source of part of my inspiration for Sarah's transformation either, that belongs to Terry Pratchett and the fact that I watch **way** too much t.v._

_A/N: This is my next offering and as usual, the prologue is very short. This one is a little weird in my head so we'll see how it turns out as I write it. Like all of my fics, this is a work in progress and I ask that you all review because they always help me. All I ask is that you don't flame me. It's really quite simple; if you don't like it, don't read it. _

Spirit Whisperer

Prologue.

Sarah sat in the park, a book in one hand as she idly plucked at the grass she was sat on. It was two days since she had defeated Jareth in the Labyrinth and after making a conscious effort not to argue with Karen and her father, not to resent Toby as much as she had been since he had been born, she was tired and needed her own space. Even though she had put away most of her toys and all the things which reminded her of the Labyrinth, she had not relinquished her love of a fantasy novel and the book she held in her hand was one which was obviously well read and loved, even though it was not the little red book she would have once turned to, it appeared to be the sort of book which she could easily lose herself in and yet leave at a moments notice at any place with no fear of finding her place upon taking it up at a later date. Rain began to fall softly about her, light and gentle, leaving a sheen on her hair and skin that glittered in the half light. At first she did not seem to notice it and it was not until tiny wet patches began to form on the paper that she realised she was getting wet and she let out a soft curse as she folded down the page and clambered to her feet.

The rain began to fall more heavily as she left the park and she began to run as she made her way through the back alleyways which would take her back to her home in the shortest time possible. It was as she turned into the last alley before the final stretch to home that she saw him and she knew instantly that he was of the same race as the Goblin King by the magic that seemed to radiate off him. He was tall and slim, though she could tell be the way his breeches clung to his muscular thighs that he was well built under his black poets shirt and flowing cape. His hair was long, tied into a ponytail with a piece of black ribbon. His eyes were deep pools of violet and his smile sent chills down her spine. The mere sight of him sent her skidding to a halt and she stared at him, book clutched to her heaving chest as the rain continued to fall around them.

"Hello, Sarah," his voice slid over her like warm honey, making her forget about the falling rain and the obvious danger that the creature in front of her represented. "I am Terval." He bowed slightly to her, a mocking bow rather than one of respect.

"Hello," she frowned a little, not sure how to react to him. He held up his hand and like Jareth had done two days before, a crystal appeared there. She managed to keep her face straight, no longer awed at the display of power from the coldly beautiful man in front of her.

"I bring you a gift, Sarah," he purred, his voice deep and dark, shaking her to the core of her being and making her take a wary step back as he held the crystal out to her.

"I've learnt that magical gifts come at a high price, Terval," she told him, clutching the book tighter to her chest as though it was some sort of shield from the magic she wanted little to do with. If Terval was upset by her reaction he did not show it, he simply brought the crystal closer to his chest, staring into it with his dangerous eyes and it was then that she noticed that it was tinged with a black which was beyond black.

"This is no ordinary gift for an ordinary girl, Sarah. This was my mother's and on her death she left it to whomever could defeat Jareth's Labyrinth. Congratulations." Wide emerald eyes looked at him and she stepped further back, still not trusting him, arms falling to her sides as she prepared to run. He smiled again and tossed the crystal towards her, she caught it, acting on impulse and instinct. It touched her fingers, vanishing in a burst of glittering light that travelled up her arms, bathing her in an icy chill and filling her with fear and an unknown strength, even as she felt her knees shaking enough that they threatened to give out on her. Terval's smile grew wider and more sinister as he watched the progress of the magic, waiting until it had completely enveloped her before vanishing without so much as a puff of smoke or burst of glitter. As far as flashy exits went, it left Sarah a little disappointed and more than a touch afraid. It took her a moment to return to her senses, the spell from the crystal still tingling over her skin, leaving her feeling full to bursting and she began to run again, noticing the rain which was still falling for the first time since she had seen Terval.

Light feet carried her across the tarmac and grass to the front porch of the old Victorian and she stood gasping beside the door as she looked at the sheet of water that was falling from the unforgiving clouds. Her book was a sodden mass of ruined paper and ink and she knew that even if she managed to get it dried out it was doubtful that it would be of any use to her again. She dropped it to the floor and gathered her loose hair in her hands, wringing it out over the decking and looking at her sodden shirt and jeans, knowing that she was going to catch it from Karen as she walked through the door. Sure enough, the door opened behind her and her stepmother instantly began shouting.

oOo

After three days of wondering and worrying that Terval's gift would cause her some problems, Sarah had not seen or noticed anything different from her usual everyday routine. Sometimes the streets seemed a little busier and people would wave to her that she did not know and no one else would notice, so she shrugged it off.

Fate could not be that kind to her, however, and as she was walking with Toby in the buggy and her father and stepmother just behind her, she saw a man across the street, a man who had once been a neighbour of theirs. At first she thought she had been mistaken, it could not have been Adrian Toms, because he had been killed in an accident several years before. When he smiled at her and waved, shouting her name in a barely audible whisper, she knew that it was him and that sparked a moment of fear in her. Was she losing her mind?

A moment later he was gone and Sarah brushed the incident aside, eager to let it be the stress and worry of the last week getting to her. With a shrug and a sigh she continued walking, listening to Karen complaining about the potential grass stains on clothing and the risks of Toby being stung or injured. It was enough to make her wish that she was losing her mind.

oOo

Sarah opened her eyes and yawned. The room was still dark but she could tell that something was not right. She pushed herself into a sitting position and reached over, switching on her bedside lamp and stifling a scream as she saw the man at the end of her bed. He was young, perhaps in his mid twenties, with curly blue/black hair and pale eyes, dark circles surrounded them and his skin was almost translucent. His jeans were covered in mud and his blue t-shirt had been splattered with blood. Something about him, aside from his presence there, was very wrong, the colour of him, whilst sharp, was somehow muted, completely unreal even though she knew he was there.

"Release me," he moaned, voice barely above a whisper, like it was coming from a far off place, oddly disjointed as he spoke.

"I don't understand," she kept her voice low, careful not to wake her family, the last thing she would need would be to explain why she was talking to herself first thing in the morning.

"Release me from this place. Send me on." He moved closer to her, his actions jerky and he seemed to flicker out of existence for a moment.

"I don't know how." She admitted, still not fully understanding and wishing that she did. Anger and desperation flitted across his face and for a moment his eyes seemed to glow red with something else. Then his expression became pleading and he spread his hands.

"You are a Spirit Whisperer, you speak with us, you see us and hear us. Everything that you need to know is there, trust your instincts, My Lady," he spoke with a respect that did not fit to his choice of clothing and she frowned, glancing over at the mirror and not seeing him there, knowing that he was either a figment of her imagination or he was telling the truth. She fervently hoped it was the latter.

Sarah took a deep breath, realising that, if the words of the ghost were the truth, this was her gift from Terval and she vowed that if she ever got her hands on him again she would make him pay for giving it to her. She closed her eyes and took another calming breath, trying to quell the panic that was rising up inside her as she thought about the prospect of seeing ghosts for the rest of her life. Searching her mind she found that she was drawing a blank, there was nothing there that she could use to fulfil the request of her unwanted guest.

"Just... just be at peace. Let go of that which keeps you here and move on without regret," she whispered finally, opening her eyes and seeing the glow of light about her hands as she spoke. The light flowed towards the young man and with a smile of thanks, he vanished.

oOo

Over the course of the next year, Sarah changed. She stopped wearing her long hair down, tying it back in a plait or up in a loose bun. She stopped wearing trousers, settling for long skirts in dark colours and tight shirts and gypsy cut tops. Her make-up went from minimal to dark, smoky grey and black eyeshadow and thick eyeliner and she began wearing an large silver ankh around her neck, suspended on a piece of thick black ribbon. The change troubled her family. She was always on edge, always jumping at the slightest sounds and strange things happened around her. Belongings mysteriously disappeared or broke, sometimes she could be heard talking in her room when it was known that there was no one in there with her and on several occasions she had been seen talking to herself whilst walking through the streets. She spent a lot of time in the library now, more than she ever had, looking through large old books and writing in a leather bound note book that no one could touch. Often Karen had seen her copying strange symbols into the book or in chalk onto the now exposed wooden floor of her room, symbols which were washed away after a couple of hours.

As Sarah withdrew more and more into herself, her family could only watch and worry as the once happy and sometimes moody teen became dark and brooding, accepting any task they asked her to perform with out comment or complaint. Robert watched as his sunny daughter was replaced with a stranger and he could only wonder what it was that had brought about the change.

oOo

_Thank you for reading and please R&R, I'll update again by Tuesday next week. Again, I apologise that it's short. _

_Artemis_


	2. Three Years

_My next chapter and a little more set up for the story. Thanks out to all who have read and big thanks out to my reviewers rosebud, sweetbabby33, Skyrere and FaeriesMidwife. Receiving my reviews makes it all worthwhile and I'm sorry that this chapter is again so short, it feels forced longer. Again, R&R, they're motivating. _

Chapter One: Three Years.

It was nearly three years after Sarah's encounter with Terval, three years after she had defeated the Goblin King and three years since she had first realised that she had power over the souls of the dead. In those three years the spoilt, demanding fifteen year old girl had died, replaced with a cold, distant and often cruel eighteen year old. 'Ice Queen Williams' she had been dubbed by her peers, teenagers who had long ago decided that she was too weird to be worth knowing. Her final transformation had simply cemented the fact, something which had grown out of her famous mother and her daydreamers personality. The jeans and overlarge shirts, clothes designed to hide her feminine figure, were gone, as were light and bright colours. Out of respect for the spirits she saw everyday, those she was beginning to lay to rest with increasing frequency, and an odd about turn in personal taste, she wore dark, sombre colours. Her skin remained pale, even as she used shadowy eye make-up to help hide the ever present dark circles around her eyes, caused by long nights of research, school work and practice at controlling her sometimes terrifying magic.

It seemed that her abilities were not simply in laying the spirits of the dead at rest. She had discovered during a night of panicked research for a history project that she could also summon the dead to her. That particular incident had quickly gotten out of hand and it was what had finally prompted her to research her magic as fully as she could. Necromancy, she learnt, was a dangerous magic, requiring a great deal of mental strength and control. To that end she had begun meditating twice a day, organising her thoughts and honing her mind using techniques she had learnt from an ancient book she had found in the school library. It was during this time that she had also discovered her crystal magic, still able to do only the most basic things, like lighting candles, changing her clothes or doing her make-up, but then, it was useful all the same and after a while the indigo tint to the translucent orbs in her hand had ceased to worry her.

Perhaps the most disturbing changes had been physical. Her eyes had not changed much, though they had grown older and more cruel with every spirit she released to the afterlife. Her voice had changed, it was now softer, more hushed as she became accustomed to speaking with spirits quietly, but when she was angry or frustrated, or simply desperate for someone to do as she asked them, her voice became deep and otherworldly, seeming to come from both her and the rest of the world at the same time. Her voice she could cope with and completely control. Her _hair_ on the other hand now brought a whole new meaning to bad hair day. Most girls her age only had to worry about indestructible frizz or the kink that just would not go away. _Sarah's_ hair rearranged itself to suit her mood, some days it was almost more alive than _she_ was, a part of her and yet at the same time a completely separate entity. It scared her.

Nothing spiritual, otherworldly or mythical was hidden from her eyes. Whether it was the goblin raising merry hell in the parlour, the spirit choosing to remain in a world it did not belong to, or the monster Toby was certain lurked under his bed, Sarah saw all and heard all and never complained when her four year old brother woke her in the middle of the night to deal with whatever he feared.

Everywhere Sarah went, her leather bound journal went with her. The book contained all that she knew about her power and how to control it and she did not dare leave it in the house for fear that Karen would find it and show it to her father. There was no possible way that she could explain her sudden fascination with necromancy and the so called 'dark arts'. Nor had she told her friends from the Labyrinth, she very much doubted that they would understand how it was changing her, or why. A small part of her _wanted_ to tell them, just as a larger part of her wanted to call Jareth and tell him, wanted to ask him why Terval had given her such a gift and then left without any explanation. However, unlike her simple reluctance to tell her friends, it was fear of the Goblin King that prevented her from telling him, fear that her would laugh at her, or simply refuse to help, or even not come just out of spite because she had defeated him. She knew that telling him would give him power over her once again and she feared that even more than the idea that he would ignore her.

At first she had found it hard to keep these new abilities and feelings from the people around her. Although she was a good actress, she had no poker face to speak of and so when she was shocked or angry in the past it would have shown on her face for all the world to see. Her new power forced her to develop one quickly, masking surprise and fear behind the cold facade which had earned her, her nickname. People claimed they avoided her because she was weird, what they actually meant, and were simply too proud to admit, was that they feared the strange girl who had been bullied for most of her life. Overnight the bullying had stopped and Sarah had gone from tormented to ignored and she welcomed the change in social standing completely.

Despite the late nights and constant interruptions, Sarah's school work had steadily improved until she was well on her way to finishing at the top of her year, something her father welcomed even though he worried desperately about his eldest child. He did not see the magic that lingered behind her emerald eyes, he saw only the cold mask and cruel eyes, the barrier created by her dark clothes and make-up and the way she took so little interest in the world of the living. Even if he could not _see_ the power, he could feel it and on more than one occasion he was certain that he had seen her toying with crystal balls in her room. One thing was certain, Robert Williams did not scare easily, but his eighteen year old daughter terrified him.

Karen had commented on her journal and the chalk symbols on the bedroom floor. She too had seen Sarah twirling crystals over her hands and heard her talking late at night when she should have been in bed. All this had been mentioned to her husband, and to Sarah too. The girl graced them with a chilling smile and walked away. There was one thing, however, that Karen had not told her husband about, something that she did not dare mention to anyone and that she strived to block from her mind and her memory. Karen had seen Sarah's hair dancing around her late one night after the teen had fallen asleep in front of the television, rearranging itself into an assortment of different and sometimes impossible styles. Not daring to wake her, Karen had switched off the television and fled, never daring to admit to herself that she now feared her stepdaughter rather than seeing her as the uncomfortable reminder that Robert had been married once before.

The only one who did not notice the change in Sarah was Toby. If anything, as time went on the boy grew more attached to his magical sister and her cold ways. As a result, Sarah had grown to love him more dearly than she could ever have believed possible. Though Toby's fascination with his sister worried his parents, they had to admit that some good did come out of it. Around Toby Sarah could often be seen wearing a genuine smile, something which almost never happened.

oOo

It was late one Friday night and Sarah was sat on her bedroom floor, surrounded by chalk symbols, some of which floated through the air as she concentrated on the insubstantial form in front of her. He was tall, his long hair would once have been golden, though now it seemed almost tarnished and the blood on his once white shirt was simply too red. Like she had grown to expect from the spirit world, the colours were almost surreal. This was not a man that she was giving peace, however, this was an elf. He had once been a beautiful creature, one who had probably had more lovers than sense, now he was sallow and broken, black pits where his eyes had once been. This was not the first elven spirit that she had ever had to lay to rest, but he was certainly being the most difficult. Finally she sighed.

"What is it that you carry that is so heavy you cannot pass on?" She questioned and the spirit seemed to relax once she had asked.

"I cannot pass, Lady Whisperer, until I have warned the Guardian of the Unwanted of his danger." His voice was disjointed, out of sync with the movement of his lips so that as they finished moving his voice was still cutting through her, harsh and hollow. There was no emotion there, even as his face warred with pain and desperation.

"I shall deliver your message," she promised with a sigh. It would not be the first time she had taken a message to be passed onto a family member but it would certainly be the most unusual one that she would be forced to deliver.

"Warn him that the Lord of Night seeks his throne. Warn him that the lives of the Unwanted are at stake and that the Army of Whispers is coming for him." Sarah frowned but committed the message to memory before it occurred to her that she did not know who the message was intended for.

"You want this passed onto the Guardian of the Unwanted?" She asked to clarify it. The spectre nodded. "Who is he?"

"You know him." The voice was more distant now and she knew that the time for questions was over, it was time to do her job, as curious as she was about the whole thing.

"Release your burden restless soul," her voice changed, became the one that came from all areas of the room and the universe, loud and quiet, deep and commanding, light and pleading. "Take the step towards the end and eternal peace. Your journey on this plane is over and a new one is yet to start. Rest easy." The glow that always came to her hands when she completed this ritual was there and as it flowed to envelope the elf she saw him smile briefly before he vanished, the symbols floating around her fluttered to the floor as nothing but a pattern of dust, and left her with the puzzle. Just who was it that he wanted her to pass his message onto and how did she know him?

oOo

Sarah sat in front of her vanity rolling a crystal over her hands and staring deep into it, it was almost like she was searching for something. Finally she sighed and looked at the mirror. If she could not find what she wanted in the crystal she would have to ask for help.

"Hoggle, I need you," she breathed, her voice once again taking on that otherworldly command as she made the crystal vanish. The mirror went cloudy for a moment before Hoggle's face appeared there and she forced a smile to her lips.

"Hullo, Sarah," he muttered though he did not seem overly pleased to see her.

"Hi, Hoggle," the commanding quality was gone and she was back to using her normal gentle voice. "How have you been?"

"Fine, jus' fine," he glanced away and she knew that it was the way she looked, the change in her personality since she had run the Labyrinth which had made them distant. She had not called him in nearly a year and she knew that he was hurt by it.

"I need to ask you something. Who is the Guardian of the Unwanted?" Hoggle looked shocked and he opened his mouth a little before snapping it shut.

"You don't want nothing more to do with him, Sarah. Wasn't last time bad enough?" He seemed to grow more and more angry with every word and a dark suspicion began to form in her mind.

"Hoggle?" She touched her fingertips to the mirror, resting them where his cheek was. "I need to know." She insisted and he looked deep into her cruel eyes.

"Sarah, you don't want to see him, you don't want to get involved with the Goblin King again."

"Thank you, Hoggle," she leant back and looked away, her eyes distant and a slight frown playing across her face. Hoggle nodded and the mirror clouded again. In an instant he was gone and Sarah was left to her thoughts.

oOo

_Short and too the point, I like leaving a little puzzle at the end... Let me know what you think, I'll try to make it a litle longer next week, we'll see how we go. Again I will have updated by this time next week. R&R._

_Artemis_


	3. Soul Thoughts

_Ok, so this is my last update before I go on holiday so I won't be updating for a while (fans of Window of Opportunity will know that I go away a lot!) I'm off to Turkey so I'll be having major fanfic withdrawal by the time I get back. As a parting gift I give you this little chapter and Jareth will finally make an appearance, I know you've been waiting for it. Thanks to Skyrere and notwritten for their reviews, they're wonderful people. On we go._

Chapter Two: Soul Thoughts

Sarah sat cross legged on the floor, her eyes closed and her breathing slow. The room around her was dark save for the light that came from the flame of the lone candle in front of her. For three days she had been trying to regain the inner calm that she had been in possession of for nearly two and a half years. With the mission that had been placed on her the calm had been shattered and she knew that she was almost completely open to mental attacks from the spirits who came to her. Her problem, and the cause of her restless mind, was that she really did not want to help Jareth. In her mind, despite all that she had been through and how much she had changed after three years, Jareth was still the villain, he was still the enemy and she was still the heroine, though she had yet to read of a heroine who could summon the souls of the dead to her. She had four courses of action that she could take and none of them really appealed to her.

The first was to simply not deliver the message to him. After all, he would surely find out for himself soon enough and he would be able to deal with it then. His messenger had died without ever being able to deliver the message himself so maybe Jareth had never been destined to have it before a certain time. Perhaps Jareth was meant to find out about the danger himself at the right time and the best thing for her to do would be to let it lie. Unfortunately, unlike the more carefree part of her, Sarah's curiosity had not died and the spirit had left her with a lot of questions that she needed answering.

Which lead her neatly to option two, summoning Jareth to her room somehow and delivering the message to him, then pestering him with questions until she gained the answer she craved. The real disadvantage there was that she would have to admit to him where she had come about the power she held and the would give him a great deal of power over her, something she wanted to avoid. Inviting Jareth into her life was certainly not the best plan in the world.

Choice three would avoid that entirely, she would not even have to look at Jareth, she would simply pass the task onto someone else. She could pass it onto Hoggle or Didymus. However, she was not sure if she could trust either to deliver the message. Hoggle was reluctant to have anything to do with Jareth and his reception of her three days ago had been less than gracious and he had not even said goodbye when he had left. They had grown apart over the years and Sarah was not sure if, at the end of the day, it was a good or a bad thing that it had happened.

Her final option was to go to Jareth herself, she had been working on her own teleportation crystals and was almost certain that she was capable of taking herself to the castle beyond the goblin city under her own steam and power. True it would probably leave her exhausted in bed for days and with any luck she would not have any restless spirits to lay to rest in that time, but it was not something that she could rely on too much. They always seemed to come more when she was feeling a little under the weather. Going to Jareth of her own accord would mean that he would have little power over her, with any luck he would have none at all and she, as well as her baby brother would be safe.

Option four was more and more beginning to look like the correct course to chose, even if all she really wanted to do was take Hoggle's advise and ignore the Goblin King entirely. Karen's call to breakfast roused her and she stood, blowing out the candle and using a crystal to dress and do her make up, ready to face the day ahead and the cruelties of High School.

oOo

Jareth heard the shouting before he saw the goblins approaching the city. It never really ceased to amaze him at how well sound travelled outside the city walls. He sighed, grumbling quietly as he made his way out of the throne room and into the corridors, hallways that twisted and turned erratically, designed to make those who ran the Labyrinth nervous and turn them about a little. It was a source of great annoyance to him that they had done nothing to halt Sarah's determination to defeat him, even if visiting ambassadors from the other Fae Kingdoms _did_ find them more than a little concerning in the haphazard way that they seemed to be constructed. Still, he brought his mind back to the task at hand, hearing the goblins shouting warnings at each other and calling for their king to come down and see their discovery was never a good thing. So rather than wait in the throne room and have to listen to a garbled, second hand account, which no doubt would hold little actual fact and just a whole lot of speculation and embellishment, Jareth had decided to go to them. Besides, it would simply re-enforce the idea that he had been carefully cultivating that he was all seeing and all knowing, the goblins were less likely to cause trouble that way and it had made dealing with Hoggle all the more fun, even if the little scab _was_ still in contact with Sarah, he lived in the bog anyway and there was no way for the girl to get to him and he would not go to her anymore, not with the lingering after effects of three years living in the overpowering stench.

Whatever Jareth had expected to see when he made his way into the square at the foot of the castle steps, seventeen goblins clustered around a decaying corpse was not it. For a brief moment he had entertained the hope that they were just overreacting to some imagined threat but now that did not seem to be the case and he was glad that he had not waited for them to come and get him, even though the smell alone was enough to make him want to vomit.

The elf's long blonde hair was matted with what could only be mud, dust mixed with his own life blood, leaving a coppery taste in Jareth's mouth as he breathed. His shirt had once been white and was now saturated in dried, red brown, flecks of blood that had gushed from the gaping wound in his chest. As if killing him had not been enough, it seemed that his attackers had tortured the elf before killing him, twin tracks of dried blood were on his cheeks, tracks that came from empty eye sockets. The sleeves of his shirt were ripped and Jareth could see the cuts of a knife on the pale arms of the once handsome elf, he knew that if he rolled the body over he would probably find the lingering evidence of a whip, even though the corpse had gone several different and possibly interesting shades of blue, black and browns.

Jareth had seen enough dead bodies to know that all of the remaining blood in the body would have drained to the back and he did not need a physician to tell him how the male had died. He looked at the hands, not surprised to see that his fingers had been broken, and found what he had been looking for. Tattooed on the wrist of the elf, where it would have been cover by his wrist guards, was the mark of the Goblin Kingdom, a simple Labyrinth design, similar to much of the Celtic knot work that, even now, was so common in the Aboveground. With a grimace he reasoned that the tattoo was probably what had gotten the elf killed.

The rotting corpse at his feet was none other than one of his most trusted agents, Madril, and he felt a pang of grief. Madril had always been the most reliable and discrete of all those he had employed. That he had been killed could have one of two possible motives. Either the elf had known something that someone had not wanted him to pass on, or someone wanted to hurt Jareth and put him on his guard. In all likelihood, it was a combination of both and that made his head hurt.

"Take this to the physician, have him examine the body and find out where Madril had been," he told the crowd that had gathered around him. He pulled a handkerchief from the air and put it over his mouth, changing his gloves with a thought knowing that the ones he had been wearing were probably going to have to be burnt as well, it was a shame really since they were his favourite pair. He brushed the thought away with a stab of irritation and went back to the task at hand. "Once he's done, make sure that he burns the body."

He turned and stalked away, hiding his disturbed thoughts behind a mask of cold indifference. Whoever had done this had known exactly where to look and where the elf had come from, they had to have done to drop the body in the desert outside the Labyrinth where it would be found by roaming bands of the creatures that made up the bulk of his subjects. It worried him that Madril had been captured so easily, the decay of his body preventing Jareth from ascertaining whether or not the elf had tried to defend himself, and the heavens alone only knew how long he had been tortured before they had finally killed him. The woodpecker attacking his skull renewed its attack with vigour and he pinched the bridge of his nose. At this moment in time, this was the last thing that he wanted.

With that thought in mind he lowered the handkerchief and summoned a crystal to his hand, looking deep into it. It was time, he decided, to recall some of his agents and put them to work investigating the death of their number one, a position he was not welcoming the idea of finding a replacement for.

oOo

Terval watched from the branches of the tree outside Sarah's room. She was beautiful, he decided as he watched her prepare for bed, the perfect choice for all the things that he had planned. Best of all, despite all he had heard about her after her trip through the Labyrinth, she had absolutely no idea about his plans for her. The magic that he had given her was slowly corrupting her, darkening her soul enough that he would soon be able to do all of the things with her that he had planned. In his Falcon form, his black eyes seemed to narrow, he could do many things to her and with her that he had not planned on doing as well, in fact, he liked that idea a lot more than he should have done.

He leapt from his perch and flew off into the night, cursing that his alternative form did not allow him the same brilliant night vision that his adversary had been gifted with, and flew blindly into the night. It would not do for her to see him watching, it was not time yet, the darkness did not have enough of a hold on her for him to risk being seen by her. The time was coming, he knew, soon he would have all that he wanted.

oOo

Sarah twirled the crystal over her fingers, running it up her arms and over her shoulders, laughing when she managed to finish the trick without dropping the delicate object for the first time. She summoned another crystal to her other hand, making the two dance around each other and oblivious to the two sets of eyes watching her. One set brown, deep and filled with concern and fear, the other set dark, almost black pools of violet, hard and controlling.

She sighed as she watched the two crystals dance, catching glimpses of unknown scenes and memories in them. She still had not decided what to do about the message she had for Jareth and she knew that it was getting closer and closer to the time when she would have to make a decision. If she continued to do nothing, it may well be too late if she decided to do something to try and help him. After three years of silence on both their sides, she did not know how she would be received. She looked into the crystal again, saw Jareth pacing in his throne room and made her decision. He deserved a warning, he deserved to know what she had been told.

Suspending the crystal in the air beside her, she tossed the other to the floor at her feet, standing as her clothes began to change. Her long navy skirt and off the shoulder jumper became a black, floor length dress, one that hugged her torso but fell in full skirts from her waist. Her hair began to unwind itself as her dark eye makeup was magically touched up, she could feel it winding itself up into a tight bun, two strands at the front curling to hang softly by her cheeks. Behind her she heard a gasp and she turned, her hair still rearranging itself, to see the horrified face of her father.

oOo

Robert Williams did not know which was worse, the idea that he might be losing his mind, or the fact that his daughter might actually be this powerful, magical creature that he could see appearing in front of his disbelieving eyes. Had anyone ever told him that he would one day see his daughter change her clothes with a crystal, or see her glorious hair twist itself to her whim, he would have laughed and then suggested that they take some time off work. Now he was stood in her doorway, where he had become almost mesmerised by her skills with the dancing crystals, his jaw hanging open in shocked horror and his daughter staring at him, her expression somewhere in between disgust and fear.

"Daddy, what are you..." He took a step back from the door and her face hardened as her hair snaked out of its bun and into a beehive on top of her head, emerald eyes darkening and on the edge of his awareness he could hear whispering.

"Sarah, what have you done?" He asked, afraid of his otherworldly daughter as insubstantial shapes began to form behind her.

"I haven't done anything, Daddy. Please, I didn't mean for this." The forms behind her became more solid and he could see faces there, eyes that burned into his soul.

"What are you?" He demanded then. "Where is my daughter?"

"I _am_ your daughter. I just... I just changed after Toby was born. Daddy..." He took a step away from her as the spirits came to stand in front of her, protecting her from her father as he came closer to her again, reaching out as if to grab her and coming into contact with the unearthly cold of the dead. He cried out and took a step back, cradling the arm that had touched them and staring at Sarah with raw fear. Then he turned and left as she felt a tear roll down her cheeks, the door drifting shut as she sent the furious spirits from her side. The beehive on her head fell and became soft curls, making her look younger and more innocent than she had in nearly three years.

With a small sigh she summoned a crystal to her hands, she had a task to perform, and dropped it at her feet. She would deal with the fall out from her father's discovery later, the first thing she had to do was warn Jareth that the Goblin Kingdom was in danger.

_Ok, so I know that the last part feels a little unnecessary, but it is, trust me. Right, I am off to fly to Turkey. Wish me fun and joy in my endevours! Please R&R, it would be really nice to come back to loads of reviews!!_

_Artemis_


	4. Friendly Warnings

_I have returned! Mwhaha! (coughs on hairball) Right, well, momentary insanity over, this chapter was written in the brilliant Turkish sunlight whilst drinking a Malibu Sunset, so it may be a little weird. Still, I've update only a few days after arriving home. My thanks out to my readers, bigger thanks to my reviewers (as always): yodeladyhoo, notwritten, Skyrere, masked painter, FaerieatHeart13, sweetbabby33 and Rai Medvesky, all of you are brilliant amazing people. As always, please R&R and on we go!_

Chapter Three: Friendly Warnings

Salver walked through the halls of the castle, muttering to himself. Now was not a good time for him to be in service to the Goblin King. Yet here he was, the Nedir, Number One spy for Jareth, Lord of the Labyrinth and Guardian of the Unwanted. He had a lot to prove after the death of Madril, Jareth's favourite and quite possibly the best agent that the Kingdom had possessed in many centuries. Salver found that he did not relish this unwanted position, whoever had killed Madril had wanted to silence him, Jareth wanted to know why and he had ordered Salver, as the new Nedir, to find out. The more that he thought about it, the more that Salver realised that he did not want to know why Madril had been killed, the idea of serving the Goblin King really had lost it's appeal in the last few days.

He took the wrist guard off his right arm and looked at the underside of his arm. The symbol of the Labyrinth was tattooed there, it would never leave him and it burnt every time that Jareth summoned him. He fluttered his black wings in frustration. He knew that he should be grateful to Jareth. He had been an unwanted child, wished away by a poor family that could not cope with the extra mouth to feed. By taking him, Jareth had given him a chance at survival, and not only that, he had given him a life and a future by taking him in and making him into a spy, a position which had given him wealth and power such that his family would never have the opportunity to know. He sighed and turned to return to his chambers, to turn his back on his king now and run would be poor repayment of all that Jareth had done for him over the years.

oOo

Jareth gazed deep into the crystal. It seemed that everything was beginning to go wrong. Despite the fact that no one among the Fae would want his job, the truth remained that his was still the most powerful kingdom in the Underground. With that in mind, many would want his throne for the power that it would bring them and in an effort to keep them at bay, he had placed spies from his people into all the other kingdoms, not only amongst the common people, but in the courts as well. As he Collector of the Unwanted, he had access to all of the Faerie races and peoples, not even _they_ were immune from the impulse of wishing a child into his possession, this meant that his spies could easily blend in with the peoples of their homelands. They were all branded to him, as were all the members of his court, he watched everyone and trusted no one.

Now he was watching Salver pace the corridors. The Fairy was not happy and Jareth could see his lips moving silently as he talked to himself. For the first time that day, Jareth wondered if he had made a mistake in appointing him. Salver had always been a good field agent, he was handsome and had cut through the Fairy Court leaving a wave of broken hearts behind him. Every nobleman's daughter wanted him in her bed and many of their mother's felt the same way. Salver had used that to get his information. The courts, however, were relatively safe, as Nedir the more dangerous missions would be his automatically and as he watched the young fairy pace, Jareth had to wonder if he was ready.

Certainly, Madril had not been the first spy to be caught and killed, but he had been the best Nedir that Jareth had been privileged to have in centuries he had been a friend and for reasons known only to himself he had chosen to go into the Dark Lands alone. He had not chosen to alert his king and whether as a result of that or not, he had been caught and killed.

Something shuddered on the edge of his awareness and he felt the magical wards and barriers that he had placed around the castle activate. He scowled. His people knew better, even other royals knew better than to try and teleport into the castle without warning him first. Still, it remained to be seen whether or not this intruder was friend or foe. With a thought the image in the crystal shifted to show the hilltop above the gate into the Labyrinth. His handsome face blackened in anger and he tossed the crystal from him before he disappeared from the room.

oOo

Sarah experienced that momentary distortion she had come to associate with crystal teleportation. She closed her eyes, half wondering what impression she had made and expecting to hear laughter, or at least voices raised in surprise. Instead she was greeted by silence and she could feel the wind whipping around her. Her eyes flashed open and she looked down from the hilltop at the breathtaking view over the Labyrinth.

"_Gods Dammit_!" She screamed, balling her fists at her sides and throwing her head back as her hair wove wildly around her face and neck, reflecting her frustration.

"I could say the same," the voice of the Goblin King cut through her mental swearing fit and she turned to face him, brushing against him, he was close to her, too close but she refused to take a step back from him, not wanting to show any fear or discomfort in his presence. Instead she stared up into his mismatched eyes as he looked down at her and finally he was the one to take a step back, covering it by leaning against the same dead tree which had been there on her first trip. "Why are you here, Sarah?" He asked, eyes piercing into her and inside she squirmed, even though she kept her cold mask firmly clamped down. "Nobody has wished you away and if I'm not very much mistaken, you have used your own magic to get here. I have to wonder what you have gotten yourself involved in this time." He studied her as he spoke. She had changed, grown colder, and those cruel eyes, eyes that he had to admit he still admired, her only gotten harder. She was perhaps more attractive now than she had been when he had first met her, and he knew that she was more dangerous because of that. He also noticed that she had managed to learn how to keep her emotions from her face, hiding from him all the thoughts that ran through her pretty head. There was something else too, power swirled about her, raw and barely touched, dark, fuelled by death and anger. It was like a beacon calling to any and all magical beings and out on the hillside she would be in danger.

"Can we talk here?" She asked and her wondered if she had asked the question because she, too, felt the danger that they were in or if she was simply being difficult. He decided that it was probably the later.

"You came to talk?" It was difficult to keep the surprise from his voice, but he managed it, even though it meant that he sounded contemptuous of her instead. "What could _we_ possibly have to talk about?" He smirked then, unable to resist the urge to irritate her and enjoying himself as he did it.

"Believe me, it wasn't my first impulse!" She snapped and he felt a surge of satisfaction at making her lose control of her emotions. "I have a message for you, but if you don't want to hear it..." She summoned a crystal to her hand and noted that Jareth frowned when he saw the indigo tint, seemingly disconcerted by it. This time it was her turn to smirk and he tore his gaze from the crystal, feeling a strong surge of curiosity as he did so. "I thought it might be important, but if you don't want to know..."

"My study, we can talk there, I will take us." He decided not to give her the opportunity to object and took her arm in his hand, holding her a little tighter than was necessary and causing her to drop the crystal. She glared at him, but did not speak and together they vanished.

Unseen and unnoticed, the indigo coloured crystal gently rolled down the hill. Trickling impossibly slowly until it came to a halt against the heavy gate of the Labyrinth.

oOo

Sarah wrenched her arm from Jareth's grasp as they appeared in his study. He was more practised than she was and it seemed that he knew more about magic than she could hope to learn on her own. For a brief, insane moment, she considered asking him to teach her but she dismissed the thought, realising that this would give him the power over her that she feared giving to him or any other.

"I could have done it myself," she hissed and shot him a filthy look. To her surprise, his only reply was a laugh and he gestured for her to take a seat in one of the large chairs by the fireplace.

"Only if you knew where it was, Sarah," he picked up a decanter of red wine and poured two glasses, handing one to her as he settled himself into the chair opposite her. She accepted a little warily, deciding that the alcohol would help to settle nerves that she had to admit were a little frayed from the events of the afternoon.

"How have you been?" He asked, then, hospitality and courtesy overriding his curiosity.

"Like you don't know," she murmured, looking steadily at him so she did not miss the flash of hurt and confusion that made it's way over his handsome face. "You mean you haven't been watching me?" She asked, remembering the times that she had felt unseen eyes on her, following her every movement.

"Why would I do that?" He asked in reply, not wanting to tell her that he had tried to and failed, and now it seemed like he had his answer as to why he had been unable to manage such a simple task. "You were not the first to beat me, and I doubt that you will be the last, I do not have time to look in on all previous runners all of the time, I am a King after all, I have my own concerns."

"Including my health?" Her tone was snide and the question threw him slightly as she took a sip of her wine.

"I was simply attempting to make polite conversation," he replied, every inch the aloof king as he settled more comfortably into his chair.

"I'm fine," she conceded finally, aware that she was behaving like a spoilt child and wondering when that part of her personality had managed to make it back up to the surface. "How have you been?" She countered then, trying to regain the calm, mature, cold Sarah that she had become.

"Quite well, I thank you. I trust that your family is all in good health, _Toby_ is quite well?" She shuddered at the mention of her brother's name, the unspoken reminder of how they had originally met.

"Very," her tone had become frosty, she did not like to be reminded of that night, of her rash words and the far reaching consequences of her actions, consequences that were playing out even now. "I would ask after your family but..." she spread her hands and he understood.

"Can I offer you any further refreshments?" He offered, then, knowing how exhausting it was to cross the boundaries between worlds when only recently coming into possession of magical abilities.

"No, I ..." she turned her face away as she felt her barriers beginning to fail, she was tired, emotionally and physically and all she wanted to do was get home. "My father made a few... unfortunate discoveries and has jumped to the wrong conclusions, I need to sort a few things out with him." She did not know why she was telling him, why she had decided to confide her problems in him, though she knew that it was probably because he was one of the few people who understood her position.

"Of course, I understand completely," he nodded.

"I only came to give you the message. I made a promise, I'm sorry, I never found out his name, I don't know if you even know whether he's..." she hesitated, "whether he's passed on. I made a promise to the spirit of one of the departed, an elf with long blonde hair and the most horrific injuries. He had a warning for the Guardian of the Unwanted." He started slightly and she realised that this was probably the first time in a long while that someone had addressed him using that title. "He had a warning for you. He asked me to tell you that the Lord of Night is seeking your throne. The lives of the Unwanted are at great risk and the Army of Whispers is coming for you." She took a deep breath, burying the remembered pain that she always felt. Jareth's face became grave as he looked at her, beginning to piece together a few of the details, this had been what Madril had died to try and tell him. An Army of Whispers, it was an ancient term, one only found in the old history books and he had to rack his brain to find the meaning. He looked at Sarah once more and the connection fell into place.

"Sarah, this is important. How long have the spirits of the dead been coming to you?" She frowned at him, her eyes shutting down almost instantly. "Please, I need to know this."

"About three years, since a few days after I beat you." She was reluctant to tell him about Terval, wanting to keep that part of it to herself, not sure what he would do if he knew and almost fearing how he would react, some instinct telling her that it would not be good. "What does that have to do with the message?" She demanded.

"Do you know what you are?" He leant forward in his chair, his face seeming to move into shadow and she could see some of the elements of the owl form he favoured Aboveground hidden there. His eyes seemed to glow and it made him seem all the more intent as he looked at her.

"I'm a Necromancer," she tossed her loose hair back across her shoulders, giving it a silent command to stay as it was and hoping that it would listen. "I figured _that_ out for myself."

"You're untrained and uncontrolled." At her outraged squawk he raised an eyebrow. "Your hair is a case in point. You don't see mine flying everywhere," she snorted, "and believe me, I have my own connections with death. You're almost completely unshielded and though I congratulate you on what you have managed on your own, you still need proper training, Sarah." Her eyes narrowed dangerously but he did not flinch and did not move, even as the temperature in the room dropped.

"It was a kind offer," to her surprise, her voice was completely level, "but I have to decline it."

"It was not an offer. We have no choice, Sarah, you _have _to be trained. You're in danger."

"What do you care?" She snapped back. "I'm not going to be trained by you, Goblin King. I'm sorry but I can't give you that kind of power over me. I _won't_." She stood.

"Just by knowing about your magic, I have gained some measure of power over you, Sarah." He sounded a little smug and a small part of Sarah wanted slap the smirk on is face right off. A larger part of her, however, was screaming at her to keep calm and just walk away.

"Maybe, but I don't think that you do. I owe you _nothing_, Jareth, and if I had not made this promise, you and I would not be having this conversation. We probably never would have spoken again, I wanted nothing to do with you." She could see that he was now experiencing the same struggle that she had only moments before. She returned the earlier smirk and summoned an indigo crystal to her hands. "Good bye, Goblin King, I have done what I came to and my promise is kept." She dropped the crystal at her feet and in a haze of almost black smoke, she was gone.

oOo

When she reappeared in her room she could hear the voice of her stepmother floating up the stairs. She sighed, the last thing that she wanted at that moment was to deal with Karen, especially since her argument with her father only a couple of hours before that. Still, since her so called gift from Terval, she had become a very practical woman and she brushed some of the lingering dust from the arid land outside the Labyrinth before opening her bedroom door and heading down the stairs. Voices drifted up to her and she paused to listen for a moment.

"...sure you've checked her room, Robert?"

"Twice," her father sounded angry. "She can't have just vanished into thin air, no matter what she is or what I thought I saw."

"What are we going to do, Robert? Do you think that she'll be a danger to Toby?" Sarah seethed inside, how could they think that? How could they assume that she would want to hurt the little boy that she had grown to love more than life? She decided to put an end to their speculation, decided that it was high time she told them what she could do.

"Daddy, Karen," she walked in the kitchen with her head held high and her face blank. Both adults stared at her. "I suppose we need to have a little chat." She sat at the kitchen table and looked at them, waiting for the inevitable questions.

"What are you?" Robert asked finally.

"I'm a Necromancer, I can..."

"I know what you can do!" Karen cut her off. "I don't want that sort of thing going on under my roof! Robert, what if something happens? What if something gets loose?"

"You're not telling me that you believe this stuff?" He asked in amazement.

"I've always believed it and if something goes wrong, we'll be the ones to pay the price, I know it!" Robert lay a placating hand on his wife's shoulder and looked at his daughter, his eyes sad and his face a picture of reluctance.

"Sarah, normally I wouldn't believe what I was hearing, except that I know what I saw today and that it simply not normal. I admit that it has me concerned for not just the safety of Karen and Toby, but for you as well. I want you to stop." He kept his voice reasonable and Sarah recognised it as the same tone he had used when he had told her that he and Karen were going to get married and again when he had told her that Karen was pregnant.

"I can't, Daddy," she told him, letting the cold, cruel mask descend. "They come to me, not the other way around." Inside she was screaming for him to understand, even though she knew that he would not. People always feared the unknown.

"In that case I think that maybe it would be best if you went to stay with your mother for a while. Until you get this foolishness out of your system."

"You're kicking me out?" She demanded, the mask slipping and the temperature of the room again dropped.

"Think of it as a vacation, a time to think about your actions and your future." Robert told her and she stood, still not quite believing her ears. Then she turned and left, cold fury following her as she marched up the stairs. Her own father had just thrown her out, had not even given her a chance to defend herself.

She slammed the door to her room behind her and stamped her feet several times, eyes closed and head thrown back. The little temper tantrum made her feel a little better and she took a few deep breaths.

"Hello, Sarah."

oOo

_So it ends and a cliffie to boot, bet you can guess who it is! Cookies to the first to come up with the answer. So the important questions, what is Jareth going to do with this new information? What is in it for Terval? And why was Sarah's father so eager to kick her out and believe in the impossible? Answers to some of those questions coming next week, but only if you R&R!! (evil laugh)_

_Artemis_


	5. Dark Lord

_I am officially an evil bad person and I deserve to be beaten over the head with big sticks! My muse has abandoned me and I am slowly fighting my way through the worst writters block that I have ever suffered from. I didn't want to post this until I had suceeded in writting more than just a few lines of the next chapter, but then I realised that it has been over two months since I last posted and I nearly cried. So bare with me, this isn't up to my usual standard and for that I can only apologise._

_My thanks go out to my reviewers: FaerieatHeart13, maskedpainter, sweetbabby33, notwritten, Kitty Rasputin and Eclectic Me. Thank you for your support._

Chapter Four: Dark Lord

Terval watched through the window as Sarah entered the kitchen. He had thought that she would have at least attempted to put some sort of shield or warding around the house to protect those within from magical attacks. Now, much to his surprise, he had learnt that she had not and the minds of those within the house were as open to his influence as they had always been. It had been a simple matter to get Sarah's father to go into her room as her hair was arranging itself and simpler still to use his long buried fears and concerns to start an argument between the two. He had smiled when she had continued with her chosen course of action, whatever it had been, convinced that the magic was doing all that he had hoped it would, making her cold, hard and withdrawn. It had annoyed him that he had not been able to follow her and find out what she felt was important enough to use her magic on, but he had a task of his own to complete.

Making his way to the downstairs window he had watched Sarah's father sit with his head in his hands, urging him to seek the council of his wife whilst all the while encouraging her to ask him to get her to leave. So when he saw Sarah enter the kitchen with her head held high, he knew that her stubborn tendencies would cause the seeds he had planted to grow and take on a life of their own. Sure enough, Sarah's father asked her to leave and he resisted the urge to let out a shriek of triumph as he flew up to her bedroom window, now open and let himself in. Watching her as she leant against the door and had a small temper tantrum he had to admit that she was truly beautiful. With her eyes closed she did not see him land on the floor and transform back into his Fae form. Just as he had been the first time he had met Sarah, he was wearing tight black breeches and an open poets shirt.

"Hello, Sarah," he smirked and watched as her glorious emerald eyes flew open. They came to rest on him and he saw her look him up and down before she spoke.

"I should have known that you would turn up," she muttered. "You haven't changed a bit." She pushed away from the door and past him. "Dare I ask what you want?"

"Your help, Dear Sarah," he bowed to her, hoping to win her trust and confidence. Her eyes narrowed.

"I shouldn't have ask," she hissed and looked him. "You can take your need for help and shove it!" She snapped then, glaring up at him. "Now _get out_! Your gift has caused me more than enough trouble as it is."

"Trouble, My Dear?" He asked her, all innocence and light. Her eyes were flat as she continued to look at him.

"You know full well what kind of problems this has been causing me! My own father has thrown me out of my home!"

"Do you really think that I had anything to do with that?" He kept his tone neutral but he could see the suspicion in her eyes.

"Of course you did, I'm not stupid, you and Jareth have some big plan and you've gotten me caught up in the middle! I don't want anything to do with it! Get out, get out, _get out_!" Her hair was waving around her and her green eyes seemed to crackle with magical energy. The temperature of the room dropped and Terval could see the clouds of moisture that formed as he breathed. Mist was swirling around her and he could see it beginning to take the form of the restless spirits of the dead, called to protect and serve. Her mind was open to him and with a soft laugh he entered her thoughts.

oOo

Terval knew as he plunged deep into Sarah's barely protected mind that it was impossible to change a person's basic, natural, character, they would always default back to it in times of need and stress. What it was possible to do, however, was to influence the memories that reinforced that character in the first place. If he could alter enough of them and make her forget others, to the extent that the altered memories stood out too much to be ignored, so that they became the sort of thing that she would dwell on, he could influence her character.

He felt the flutter of her mind against his as she tried to force him out, but she had her family to consider and the spirits that she had unwittingly summoned to control, it was too much for her poorly trained mind and he brushed her attack away with a contemptuous thought as he turned to her memories of her family.

oOo

Sarah was stood in the park, a book clutched to her chest as she watched the figure of a woman march up to her. It had been three days since she had won Toby back from the Labyrinth and only a day since the strange encounter with the unknown Fae in the alleyway. She had come to the park with her book in order to give herself time to think and analyse the odd occurrence. Now, it seemed, she had once again lost track of time and this time, Karen had come to find her.

"Sarah! Just what do you think you are doing?" The blonde demanded as she came within speaking distance. "Have you got any idea what time it is? You were supposed to be home over an hour ago!" The girl flinched. "What am I going to do with you?"

"I'm sorry, I just..." something in the scene shifted a little and briefly a tall man in dark clothes could be seen behind Karen.

"You just _what_? You're such a dreamer, useless in every imaginable way. I have no need of a dreamer in my house and your father is certainly a little more annoyed with your behaviour than he lets you think!" The older woman grabbed Sarah's arm and began to drag the teen from the park, ignoring the young woman's yelp of pain and cries of protest. "Shut up! What am I supposed to do with you when you never listen to a word I say?"

"I'm trying, Karen!"

"Try harder!" She continued to drag the girl from the park, not even stopping when Sarah lost her footing, simply dragging her to her feet and continuing with her tirade about Sarah's faults. The memory began to fade and Terval immediately began to search for another, already feeling Sarah's resentment of the woman up a few levels.

oOo

She was sat on the stairs listening as her father and stepmother began to argue about her. It was a year after she had discovered her ability to talk to the dead, the time when her family had first started to become concerned about her growing isolation from other people her own age and her change in clothes and personal style. Originally the conversation had been one of concern. Now all she heard was Karen telling her father that she was not wanted in the house, that she was a danger to Toby. To her horror, the words that came out of her father's mouth were of the same deep rooted concern, the same foolish idea that his daughter would try to hurt his son. She had no idea where he had come up with the worry, but through the window she could see the form of a white barn owl.

oOo

For hour after hour Terval sifted through Sarah's recent memories, always ensuring that some hint of the Goblin King was present there, always making sure that Sarah could see how ostracised she was. The only things he kept the same were her memories of trying to control her abilities and the feelings of being watched.

When he was finally done he could feel the resentment towards the Goblin King and her parents swirling deep within her. As he withdrew he made sure that he watched her reaction to him, watched the way that her green eyes narrowed in suspicion as the spirits she had summoned to her side began to take on more form.

"I am not the enemy here, my dear, none of this has been my doing. I gave you this gift so that you may protect yourself."

"All it did was cause me trouble, what possible reason do I have to believe you?" She hissed in reply, still suspicious.

"Who was there every time something went wrong in your life? Who was always in the background watching?"

"_Jareth_!" She snapped and he saw the pieces of the puzzle fall into place for her. "All of this is his fault!" The spirits took a step back from the Fae male and he recognised the armour as that of the elf guard of the necromancers college from so many centuries ago, he would have to be careful here, the guard would not leave her as easily as the ordinary spirits he had watched her summon in the past. He was careful not to touch her, the magical net that he had woven about her to affect her memories was still delicate and the last thing that he wanted was to shatter it and for her to see what he was really up to.

It quickly became apparent, however, that she had accepted the altered memories more easily than he had first thought she would, probably because they played so closely on the fears that she had held buried inside for so long. She began to pace the room, muttering to herself as the spirit guards kept a close eye on Terval as he watched her, watched the way that the magic was absorbed more deeply into her soul as she accepted and dwelt on the memories that he had given her. He carefully schooled his face to concern as she turned to him, internally cheering at the darkness that lingered in her eyes, faint and barely noticeable, but there to be seen if it was looked for. She looked back at him, the magic that swirled around her gradually dimming as it was drawn deeper and deeper into her soul.

"I can't allow him to get away with this, Terval," she snapped and the otherworldly tone slipped into her voice, a slight echo that showed her willingness to accept the dark side of her that he was drawing out, the part of her that must have been there, that she had suppressed with such success for so long.

"I am not without my reasons for wanting Jareth to suffer, but it is not safe to discuss it here, Sarah, the house is not warded and he may hear our discussion." He held out a gloved hand to her and she considered it for a moment before taking it in her own and nodding.

A moment later all that remained of the pair was a small pile of glitter and the smallest wisp of smoke.

oOo

Jareth sat and stared into the fire in his study as he waited for Salver to make his report. The Fairy was nervous and not for the first time Jareth began to wonder if he had made the right decision. It was unlike him to second guess himself and he knew it was because he was regretting letting Sarah leave the way that she had. The girl had been angry and upset, but worse than that, she had been open each time she had used her magic and that was bound to attract the attention of one or more of his enemies who would not hesitate in using the girl to their advantage against him.

Salver was beginning to stumble over his words as he told his king that they had made little progress in infiltrating Terval's court, or even finding out if he had, indeed, resurrected the ancient title "Lord of Night" as his own. Deep in his heart, Jareth sincerely hoped that he had not, the last thing that he needed was for Terval to be involved in this mess, the High Court had already had more than enough of their constant bickering and little wars and Terval had cost Jareth more than his fair share of subjects as the Goblin King was sure that he had returned the favour several hundred times, considering that he had never lost a war and had carved a significant chunk of Terval's kingdom out and taken it as his own. It was no wonder, then, that the Dark Lord hated him.

Another of his spies appeared next to his leader, bowing low in deference to his king before turning worried eyes to the fire. Jareth recognised this one as a minor elf, a small creature whose plain brown eyes and hair, along with dusty olive skin, was perfectly suited to watching unseen. As such he had sent him to watch over the Williams household and more specifically, the boy-child and his infuriating sister.

"What is it, Xertan?" He demanded and the creature bowed again.

"I came as soon as I knew it was safe to. Your Majesty, the girl Sarah has let her home and her safety, in the company of Terval." Jareth sat bolt upright, mismatched eyes boring into the elf in front of him as he tried to ascertain whether he was telling the truth.

"Tell me all that you saw." He commanded, leaning back in his chair with his fingers pressed together in front of his face.

_I'm sorry it's so short, I'm hoping that the next chapter will be long and I will be delving into Jareth's spy network a little more, as well as some more of the history of the Necromancers, I just need a little time to argue with my muse. I can't make any promises about when I'll update, but I promise that as soon as the next chapter is ready it will go up, I hate being this sporadic author who never updates. Please R&R, your reviews always help._

_Artemis_


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